Global product markets weekly: Cold European weather does not warm refiners

For the week commencing 26 February, refinery margins weakened in the west because of stronger crude prices, which were not fully passed through to products. Margins in the east, however, were able to benefit from a wider Brent-Dubai differential as the Dubai crude price fell. Most key crude oil benchmarks strengthened last week, with Dated Brent maintaining an average greater than US$65/bbl. However, US domestic and Dubai crude prices came under pressure from regional refinery maintenance programmes, which weighed on crude demand and directly led to a US crude stock build.